this is bbc news, i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 10pm: gunfire. bursts of automatic gunfire at a shopping mall in thailand. the first casualties are brought out as security forces hunt a gunman responsible for shooting dead at least 20 people. the gunman, identified as a soldier who killed his commanding officer before going on the rampage is believed to be still on the loose. gusts of 63 miles per hour already in stornoway and ba cancels dozens of flights tomorrow. there are severe weather warnings as storm ciara approaches from the atlantic. a child is amongst five british people who've tested positive for the coronavirus at a french ski resort. and 200 people are being flown to the uk from the chinese city

at the centre of the outbreak. six senior conservatives write to tory mps to raise concerns about the government's decision to allow huawei to help build the uk's 56 network. why would you want to build into your system an organisation that remains a threat? i don't know of anything else anywhere else in the world that would do that. england reignite their six nations title hopes after beating scotland. earlier, ireland beat wales. and we'll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewersjo phillips and nigel nelson. stay with us for that.

the security forces in thailand are searching for a soldier who went on a shooting spree with an assault rifle, killing at least 20 people. special forces have stormed a shopping centre in the city of nakhon ratchasima, also known as korat, where the gunman is believed to be holed up. in the last few hours, two casualties have been brought out of the complex. it's still not clear how many people remain inside the shopping centre tonight. (live pix)this is the scene tonight — as you can see — it's still not clear how many people remain inside the shopping centre tonight. this is the scene tonight — as you can see — gun shots have been reported in the past few hours. lots of police remain outside the building as the operation to find the gunman continues. we will bring you the latest as it this story develops. jonathan head sent this

report from bangkok. panic in a provincial shopping mall, as people realise there is a gunman inside as they have to run. from outside, the sound of multiple gunshots. at this stage, he'd already killed a senior army officer and shot several other soldiers before reaching the mall. at one point, one of his shots appeared to ignite a gas cylinder. the gunman has been identified as 32—year—old sergeant majorjakraphanth thomma. he took selfies of himself outside the mall and live—streamed parts of his attack on facebook before it was taken down. but his motives are not yet known. gun crimes are not uncommon in thailand but a shooting on this scale by one man is something horribly new.

british airways has cancelled dozens of flights tomorrow as storm ciara sweeps across the uk. warnings of gales and heavy rain have been issued for the entire country with the potential forflooding, damage to buildings and power cuts. rail passengers are being urged to travel by train, only if absolutely necessary. 0ur correspondent richard galpin says it will cause a lot of disruption tomorrow. at heathrow, at gatwick, at london city airport, dozens of flights are going to be cancelled for safety reasons. and this is particularly affecting short—haul flights and essentially what they are doing is when you have got, for example, flights going to spain, if there are several flights flights going to spain, if there are severalflights going, flights going to spain, if there are several flights going, they will cut the numbers of flights so it is still possible to fly but people

will be pushed into a smaller number of planes. british airways has also offered the chance for people who have booked to change the date on which they fly so they can fly at a different time to escape the storm itself. edinburgh airport, they say they haven't got any disruption so far but they, like a lot of other airports around the country, are keeping a very careful eye on what is happening. berries, we know that seven ferries have been cancelled, these are p&0, on routes going across the irish sea from liverpool to dublin. and on the trains also, there is some disruption there on there is some disruption there on the networks, speed reductions, reductions of timetables and actually on routes in the west highlands in scotland, they are saying they had suspended their services because they are so worried, they are talking about winds which could be in excess of 80 mph so they are saying it is not

safe to run. bridges also, humber bridge, for example, is probably going to be closed, not definitively yet, and other bridges in scotland. and if you want to find out more about how storm ciara is affecting your area, tune into your local bbc radio station or head to our website bbc. co. uk/weather. more than 200 people are on their way to the uk on board a chartered flight from wuhan — the chinese city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak. they're expected to be put into quarantine when they arrive. meanwhile, five british people, including a child, have been diagnosed with coronavirus in the french alps. they caught the virus from a british man who'd recently returned from singapore. elsewhere, a british family are in hospital in majorca, as a precaution, after they reportedly came into contact with a coronavirus patient. with the latest, andy moore reports.

a picturesque ski resort in the french alps, the unlikely setting for this new cluster of coronavirus cases. french officials said a british man came to a chalet in contamines montjoie after visiting singapore. he then infected at least five other people, including a child. a total of 11 people are in hospital, but not in a serious condition. some local schools will have to close. translation: we are trying to trace where the 11 people in the chalet have been throughout their stay, and above all, find the people they have been in close contact with. it's understood the british man who was the original source of the infection is now being treated at st thomas‘ hospital in london. he fell ill after returning to brighton. a child at a school in the city is in self—imposed quarantine. in a separate case in mallorca, a british family of four, including two girls, is in hospital as a precaution after one of them came in contact

with a coronavirus case in france. samples have been sent to madrid for testing. translation: we will have to wait between 24 and 48 hours for the results but there will be announced as soon as possible. on a cruise liner quarantined off the coast of japan, 64 people have now tested positive for coronavirus. they have been taken off the ship to hospital. one of them is british. alan steele from walsall was celebrating his honeymoon. he's said to be doing well, according to his friends, who are still on board the cruise liner. he was taken off the ship yesterday, late afternoon. he's in a hospital near tokyo. wendy is missing him a great deal, obviously, but they're in regular touch, and alan has been in touch with me a couple of times today. meanwhile, the chinese city at the centre of the outbreak has opened a second new hospital to deal with the health emergency.

it was built from scratch in wuhan in just two weeks. there have now be a total of 722 deaths in china. more than 3a,000 people in china have been infected. tomorrow, the last of 150 british citizens are expected to arrive back in the uk on the final repatriation flight from wuhan. they will be taken to a training and conference venue on the outskirts of milton keynes. andy moore, bbc news. four rare mountain gorillas, including a pregnant female, have died in uganda, after being hit by lightning, a conservation group says. the three adult females and a male infant were found in uganda's mgahinga national park with gross lesions on their bodies indicating electrocution. there are just over 1,000 mountain gorillas in existence. earlier, i spoke to journalist jack losh, who has been following nearby gorillas in south—western uganda and he explained

what a devastating loss this incident is to the conservation effort. it's a very sad moment for the conservation community. if we go back to the 1980s, there were just 250 of these iconic primates left in the world. over the next few decades, through a combination of local engagement, national efforts and the transnational partnerships, the number today now stands at over 1000 mountain gorillas, moving them from critically endangered to endangered. the sad news happened just a few days ago went for gorillas in mgahinga national park in southern uganda were struck by lightning. now, this is a very sad moment because this park only has one permanent family there, this family have recently moved over from rwandan and among the four gorillas that were killed were three females, obviously child—bearing and crucial for sustaining the population.

and one of the females was actually pregnant at the time. do we know if the rest of the family group are doing 0k? because they often tend to go around in groups, don't they? that's right, mountain gorillas live together in families. the good news is that conservationists are saying that the rest of the family are fine, they are continuing to graze and feed upon this highland vegetation as normal. but that doesn't mean these gorillas are completely out of the woods. even though they have moved from critically endangered to endangered, the global population based in central africa still remains fragile, and as the climate crisis intensifies and temperatures rise, they are going to face increasing threats. this could damage their food supplies, this could increase the risk of disease transmission, particularly from humans to gorillas, and it could impact their habitat as humans look

for more food sources in the forest. so, while it is good news that the gorilla population is continuing to grow, a lot more still has to be done to really sustain and secure their numbers going into the future. has something like this happened before? good evening. a powerful and dangerous storm is upon us orjust about. storm ciara. it is very unusual because it will affect pretty much the whole of the uk. these tightly packed isobars indicate widespread severe gales through the course of sunday and on top of that there is some very wet weather as well. so, the met office have amber warnings out which indicates a threat to life and significant disruption for england and wales for those severe gales but the likelihood is that could be extended further north and it will be very windy for northern ireland and for scotland as well. if that weren't enough, we've also got an amber warning out for parts of southern scotland, particularly the boarders,

a couple of rivers concerning here, that there could be so much rain on the slow—moving band of rain through the night that it will lead to river flooding and flash flooding, so that is a concern as well. not just for southern scotland, though, we have that slow—moving band of rain from northern ireland, north—west england and wales, too. in fact, most of us will see rain by the end of the night but those areas could see a0 millimetres plus of rain. so, with all of the wind, the cloud, and the rain, it will be relatively mild away from the north of scotland with some mountain snow. these are the sorts of gusts of winds we are talking about. these gusts of wind could bring down power lines, low roof tiles off, cause trees to fall over and certainly there will be branches flying around, hence the risk to life and the risk of quite widespread damage and disruption in places. so, let's take the northern half of the uk, we clear the rain to start with, and lots of showers follow in behind, wintry over the hills, hail and thunder, very squally winds and that potential escalation through the central lowlands, argyll and bute late in the possibly 85 miles an hour gusts of winds will certainly cause

widespread disruption. and then across england and wales. we have the rain to clear but it doesn't really clear, we just see bands of very squally rain moving through during the course of the day and those winds escalating to 60 to 80 miles an hour, even in land, really unusual, perhaps once or twice a decade occurrence. hence the concern that this is a dangerous storm that is going to cause widespread problems with large waves as well because it coincides with the spring tides so it is possible that we could see all sorts of consequences because of this storm. of course, there are warnings out, the details are on the website, it looks set to stay windy, not as windy, at the start of the week, but cold as well. bye— bye.

five british people — including a nine year old child — are diagnosed with coronavirus in the french alps. they were staying in the same ski chalet as a british man who'd recently returned from singapore. a soldier opens fire

at a shopping mall in thailand killing more than 20 people and injuring dozens more. ahead of the oscars and its long running diversity debate — film director spike lee tells us why hollywood has such a long way to go. commentator: england's forwards have got a way to go... and in the six nations, england regain the calcutta cup, after edging past scotland in terrible conditions. good evening. five british people — including a nine year old child — have been diagnosed with coronavirus in the french alps. they were all staying in the same chalet at a ski resort in the savoie region. meanwhile, a final evacuation flight

of british people has left china and will land in the uk early tomorrow morning. since the beginning of the outbreak, more than 700 people have died, all but one in mainland china. here's our medical correspondent fergus walsh. it is a long way from wuhan yet this ski resort in france now has a cluster of coronavirus cases. it appears the source was a british man who had been in singapore and while in contamines—montjoie, visited the chalets of 11 other britons. five were infected including a nine—year—old child. all are in hospital, none seriously ill. translation: we are trying to trace where the 11 people from the chalet have been throughout their stay and above all find the people they've been in close contact with. tracing close contacts of those infected with coronavirus is vital if the outbreak is to be controlled. the british man who is from brighton

was diagnosed on thursday and is in isolation in st thomas' hospital in london. after getting his travel history, health officials contacted the ski resort of contamines—montjoie, where he had been staying. prior to that he had attended a business conference in singapore where he was infected with the virus. singapore now has a0 reported cases. it has raised its alert level to orange, the same as in the sars outbreak in 2003, indicating the virus is spreading there between people. it now has the second highest number of cases outside china. there are nearly 80 britons on board this cruise ship which remains quarantined off yokohama injapan, after dozens of passengers tested positive for the coronavirus. amongst them alan steel, on his honeymoon. he's doing well in hospital. those on board are mostly

confined to their cabins. all passengers are allowed on deck 50 at a time, deck by deck, so it is about once every three days, we get an hour or 90 minutes to stretch our legs on deck. in wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, a second new hospital has opened, built in just two weeks. this is wuhan airport where more than 200 passengers, mainly british, boarded the final uk repatriation flight. it's due to arrive at raf brize norton in 0xfordshire early tomorrow. and then the britons will be taken to a conference centre in milton keynes to be quarantined for 14 days. fergus walsh, bbc news. a soldier has killed at least 20 people and injured many others in thailand. the man's reported to have killed his commanding officer before stealing weapons from a military camp. he continued his attack at a shopping centre in the city of nakhon ratchasima, where he is still

believed to be hiding. jonathan head reports. panicked shoppers scatter in a city centre shopping mall as they hear news that a gunman is inside shooting people. outside, the sound of repeated shots stuns passing motorists. some of them are struck by the flying bullets. this is the start of what was to be a long and terrifying day in nakhon ratchasima. security cameras picked up the chilling image of a well—armed assailant, a serving soldier, walking calmly through the mall. the gunman has been identified as an army sergeant major. earlier, he'd killed his commanding officer and stolen weapons and ammunition from an army base before moving on to the mall. his motive for this attack is still unclear. police and army units surrounded the mall forfive hours before

officers from a special police squad moved in, allowing hundreds of trapped bystanders to run out to safety. gun crimes are not uncommon in thailand, but a shooting on this scale by one man is something horribly new. jonathan head, bbc news, bangkok. a group of senior conservatives have written to tory mps raising concerns about the government's decision to let the chinese company, huawei, have a role in building parts of the uk's 56 network. the government says huawei's involvement was approved following a "rigorous" review by security experts and that their involvement in 56 would be limited. heavy rain and strong winds have started to batter the uk with significant disruption expected tomorrow. storm ciara is forecast to bring wind speeds of up to 80mph. british airways say they have already cancelled dozens of flights coming into heathrow

and gatwick tomorrow. rail passengers are being asked to travel only if absolutely necessary. polls have closed in the irish general election. the current irish prime minister leo varadkar has been trying to win a third term for his party in government. our correspondent emma vardy is in dublin. emma, what's the latest? vardy is in dublin. the vardy is in dublin. exit poll has been published in the the exit poll has been published in the last 20 minutes and things are looking extremely tight, and it predicts that leo varadkar‘s fine gael party are tied with their opponents fianna fail, so impossible to say who will be forming the next government. votes are not counted overnight, they will be counted tomorrow, and then it is likely a coalition negotiation will take place between the parties. coalitions are the norm in ireland. leo varadkar has had a big international profile in the last three years, he is the youngest ever

leader in ireland and has had a big influence in the brexit negotiations. if his opponents form the next government, fianna fail, their leader will become the next irish prime minister, and we will have to wait and see. it is predicted to be a big breakthrough for sinn fein and it looks like a successful night for them. the first time in the history of ireland that a general election has been held on the weekend but all eyes will be on the weekend but all eyes will be on the coalition at negotiations to find out who forms the next government, starting tomorrow. thanks forjoining us. it's the biggest night in hollywood tomorrow, but as the stars gear up for the oscars, the list of nominees has once again come under scrutiny for being too white and, for some categories, too male. the film director spike lee will present one of the awards tomorrow. he sat down with our arts editor will gompertz to talk about hollywood, diversity and female directors. the 0scars, what do you make of the line up this year? well, it wasn't like last year!

i said this last year, don't expect six african—americans to win 0scars next year, so it is a feast or famine. it's going to be a struggle, and the struggle continues. why does it continue to be a struggle? because power does not give up power easily. it goes to the studios, the gatekeepers. we've seen more diversity amongst the gatekeepers, then have a great effect amongst the oscars. .. a great effect, i think. and is it happening at the moment? the gatekeepers? right. no, no, no. this is a business. hollywood is a business. art doesn't always come

ahead of business. and what is that hollywood business like at the moment? you know, post metoo, is it changing, or is it same old, same old? it's the same old thing. may be dressed up differently. there are a lot of women making movies, a lot of women making good movies. a lot more than there was. right. but it's still not up to... not parity, but this year there have been some notable women making some notable movies. yes. but no recognition. what's going on? hey, get in line! i'm not saying that, you know, to make light of it. it's obvious that there's work that still needs to be done. spike lee speaking to our arts editor will gompertz. with all the sport now, here's katherine downes at the bbc sport centre. good evening. we'll start with the six nations — and ireland dashed welsh hopes of back to back grand slam titles.

they beat the reigning champions 24—14 in dublin before the weather closed in on murrayfield, where england battled to a wet and windy victory over scotland in the calcutta cup. adam wild reports. in dublin it was deafening, the drumming and the fireworks, it felt the storm arrived early, and ireland, the first to raise the roof, as they powered over. wales, though, are the reigning champions, thomas williams and a move that showed just why they have come to be so showed just why they have come to be so dominant amongst the six nations. but ireland have been almost unstoppable at home in recent years and there was absolutely no stopping tag for it on. it was a lead they would not let go, andrew conway with the final score, wales defeated at last. ireland now, it seems, the tea m last. ireland now, it seems, the team to beat. england were greeted in scotland by a barrage of bagpipes

and heckling, their arrival stirring once more this most enduring of rivalries. a history with the hostility unlike any other, but for both the fiercest foe they faced came from above, the stormy atmosphere coming from above, and a single penalty was all the first i could offer, but scores were level through the boot of adam hastings, lifting the murrayfield gloom at least for a few minutes. with conditions worsening, both sides clinging on by theirfingertips, any control hard to find. better to keep the ball in hand and it finally paid off, england's ellis genge forcing his way overfor off, england's ellis genge forcing his way over for the decisive moment. for england at the victory was ugly but just moment. for england at the victory was ugly butjust the victory that mattered. adam wild, bbc news. just two games in the premier league today, because of the winter break — if you're waiting for match of the day for the scores — that comes after the news, so look away now...

everton are up to seventh — they beat crystal palace 3—1. their renaissance under carlo ancelotti continues — while palace are nowjust six points from the relegation zone. brighton and watford drew i—i. rangers are through to the scottish cup quarterfinals, beating hamilton 4—1. scott arfield scored twice — this the goal of the game. hearts, stjohnstone and inverness caledonian thistle are also through, while aberdeen and kilmarnock, and st mirren and motherwell will have to replay after draws. tennis, and great britain have failed to make the finals of the fed cup. they needed to win both singles matches today and a deciding doubles rubber. heather watson won her tie, but a straight sets defeat for harriet dart means slovakia go through to april's finals. britain go into a play—off for next year's competition. and disappointment, too, for great britain's women's basketball team — whose 0lympic qualification chances look to be over. despite a late fightback, they lost to south korea, and now need to beat european

champions spain if they're to stand a chance of winning a place at the tokyo games. there's more on the bbc sport website including racing superhorses altior and native river winning at newbury, but from me, goodnight. you can see more on all of today's stories on the bbc news channel. that's all from me. goodnight. hello we are looking at the very stormy weather prospects in the days ahead and no part of the uk is set to be spared. met office of art issued amber warnings for england and wales for severe gales but i think the possibility that that warning will be extended for covering up scotland and other are that as well. he is

ciara on the pressure chart, teddy packed isobars indicating the strong winds and heavy rain to the across the uk as well. inch of the wind on sunday 60 to 80 mph across include an wales with pink costs. perhaps though 85 mph plus possible across the central belt of scotland particularly late afternoon early evening. let's start, the more proceeds to remove that of the showers pack in with hail and thunder and the isoba rs just showers pack in with hail and thunder and the isobars just squeeze through the late afternoon into the early evening. and that is what is likely to produce that peak in the winds. plenty of rain around at their could just be a few drier and brighter interludes but there will be very short—lived. high tides and with the strong winds means coastal upwelling and flooding is possible and the ring itself could do some local flooding but the winds of the greatest concern. what have we got such a nasty low? i think to spend the jet stream known as a left exit it's a development area. the moves

of the way but even as the